


Be Still

by bootson



Category: No Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-14
Updated: 2009-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-31 01:38:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/338464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bootson/pseuds/bootson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to filming, Christmas Eve doesn’t go as Zach or Chris planned. Chris suffers a nerve induced bout of insomnia. Zach figures it’s better late than never.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Be Still

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://trekrpfexchange.livejournal.com/profile)[**trekrpfexchange**](http://trekrpfexchange.livejournal.com/) for [](http://x-carnivale-x.livejournal.com/profile)[**x_carnivale_x**](http://x-carnivale-x.livejournal.com/)  
>  I know we're all over Christmas at this point (or at least I sure as hell am), but I keep wanting to write something and can't really come up with any awesome ideas, so I'm breaking my way too long radio silence and bringing this out. Also, big thanks to my girls [](http://chellealistic.livejournal.com/profile)[**chellealistic**](http://chellealistic.livejournal.com/) for the beta and [](http://babykid528.livejournal.com/profile)[**babykid528**](http://babykid528.livejournal.com/) for trying to help me think up ideas for this. <3

Sometimes, on rare occasions, Zach hated his job. One of those times happened to be when he’d been forced to film on location half way across the country the week of Christmas. That alone wouldn’t have been all that bad if there hadn’t been a blizzard blanketing most of the Midwest and delaying all flights back to L.A. As luck would have it, Zach managed to catch a plane that put him home just after midnight on Christmas Eve (well, all right, it was technically Christmas Day by then).

Bag in hand, Zach practically fell through his front door, shushing Noah as soon as he saw him. The house was unnaturally dark, which Zach hadn’t seen since Chris and he had put up decorations the day after Black Friday (Sleepy Saturday?). Noah bounded away, rushing for the couch and the blanket enclosed bundle there. Harold was perched on the back of the sofa, apparently keeping an eye on everything, just in case he was needed to give a good kitty attack against some intruder.

Zach frowned and smiled simultaneously. The smile was because, well, Chris was adorable when he was sleeping. The frown was for something else. He’d known Chris would be there, had talked to him just before boarding the plane but hadn’t expected him to be passed out with the tree off. Granted, the twinkling blue and white lights had probably been keeping him awake and he’d had a rough couple days. Chris, love his well-meaning heart, was notorious for waiting until the last minute to properly shop. He’d spent that morning texting Zach between avoiding the paparazzi as he tried to finish shopping for his family and half the people he knew, including Zoe who was harder to buy for than any woman should ever be.

He’d finished early enough, trying to make it back by the time Zach was originally supposed to be home so they could celebrate. It hadn’t worked out so they’d just have to squeeze it in between Christmas Day festivities…maybe the day after. It wouldn’t be so bad, Zach reasoned, crossing the room to kneel in front of the sofa.

“Chris,” he whispered, reaching out to lay a hand on Chris’ shoulder. Chris stirred a bit, burrowing a bit into the cushion he was using as a pillow. “Hey.” Maybe Zach should have raised his voice from the low whisper, but he couldn’t bring himself to break whatever spell had settled over the house. Instead, he pressed light kissed to Chris’ neck and shoulder. “Chris, baby, come on. Wake up.”

Grumbling a bit, Chris turned his head to blink into the semi-darkness and search out Zach’s face. “Hey,” he intoned, voice thick with sleep. He coughed to clear his throat before sitting up a little and starting to put things together. “Hey, you’re home.”

When Chris leaned toward him, Zach obliged him with a short but firm kiss to dry lips. “Yeah. Come to bed.”

“I could stay up,” he tried to argue but fatigue was starting to catch up with Zach anyway and Chris had been asleep until this point so Zach figured he’d pass right back out when he hit the pillows like he usually did.

“No, come on. We have to be up early tomorrow anyway, right? Katie’s to see the baby?” Even though the baby wasn’t entirely a baby anymore, but would probably be referred to that way until another kid came along to steal the glory. This was the first Christmas Chris got to play uncle to a kid that would actually remember what Christmas _was_ after the fact.

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. What time is it?”

Zach shrugged and got to his feet, reaching for Chris’ hands to tug him up and get him moving. “About 12:30. Seven comes fast. Sleep now.” Leaning forward, Zach pressed his eyes to Chris’ shoulder and yawned into his shirt.

“’Kay, ‘kay. Big baby,” Chris laughed and kissed Zach’s hair before tugging him to the bedroom.

Nearly as soon as he’d kicked off his clothes and stumbled into a pair of sleep pants (that had to belong to Chris since they nearly fell off his hips), Zach was practically diving for the warmth of his bed. Chris slid in beside him a few seconds later, in boxers only, and was presented with an arm full of sleepy boyfriend almost immediately.

“God, you’re warm,” Zach muttered against him neck, clinging a bit. It had been a long day, who could really blame him?

“Compliment noted.”

Zach hummed in response but didn’t register how awake Chris really sounded. He was too wrapped up in his own new plan of bed-heat-cuddle-sleep. Having achieved the first three goals, the only one left was sleep, which had eluded Zach the entire flight (not that it had been too terribly long, but he _always_ slept on planes). Whatever, it didn’t matter because he was insanely comfortable wrapped around Chris and he was asleep before he thought much else.

The next thing he knew, though, he’d kicked off the blankets and was instinctively seeking out the warmth at the other side of the bed. When his hand came in contact with cooled pillows, his eyes fluttered open. Usually, Zach was pretty good about waking whenever Chris got up, even if it was just to stir around and be shushed back to sleep; they were attuned to one another that way.

Groaning, Zach shoved up into a sitting position and rubbed at his eyes. It took a few more moments for his sleep haze to clear and register that there was an unnatural glow casting shadows through the doorway. Grabbing a throw blanket from where it had fallen to the floor, Zach padded quietly through the house and toward the living room. Noah yawned as he passed in the hall but seemed more irritated with waiting for everyone to make it back to their designated sleeping areas than he seemed bothered by the movement.

There wasn’t a real plan, not until Zach nearly stumbled straight into the living room. He managed to catch himself just before, stopping short and scratching at his hair. Leaning against the door frame, Zach just…watched, not sure why. There was Chris, having found a pair of ridiculous flannel pants and one of his stupid trademark white t-shirts, sitting on one corner of the love seat (really, it was an extremely oversized arm chair). The tree was back on, the lights flashing at the slowest setting, and shining over everything in the general area.

Something seemed…off and Zach tugged the throw blanket tighter around his free shoulder while he tried to work it out. The clock on the DVD player was flashing 3:17, but Chris didn’t even seem to notice. The TV was off, the stereo silent; both of these were odd because Chris didn’t particularly like sitting in silence even when he was afraid he’d wake Zach. There was a small box, rectangular in his hands, Zach finally noticed. He was spinning it slowly, index fingers pressing to diagonally opposite corners. All of these things were interesting, but it was the way his head was bent to stare at his hands, shoulders slumped. Zach looked on, shifting as Chris sighed loud enough for Zach to hear.

Yeah, something was wrong here. It was Christmas, they had to be up in just a few short hours and Chris was sitting all desolate looking in the living room without even Harold to keep him company; Harold freakishly adored Chris.

“Why are you up?” Zach asked, trying to keep his voice smooth but it was still scratchy.

Chris’ head shot up quickly. He shrugged and slid the box he was holding between his leg and the chair arm. “Just couldn’t sleep.”

“You were sleeping fine when I got home,” Zach pointed out, crossing the room and nudging at Chris until there was almost enough room for Zach to squeeze in beside him. Either way, he managed to fit, turned half toward Chris with their legs slightly tangled. This close, in this light, Zach could see the bags under Chris’ eyes and the way the blue seemed duller when the lights should make them shine. “Have you been sleeping while I was gone?” It wasn’t even a week, but Chris was one of those people that really needed a set number of hours to rest or he didn’t behave like a normal person.

“Yeah,” he answered quickly. “Of course. Some. I’ve had a lot to do, you know?”

Zach’s answer was to pull the blanket around and throw it over both of them. He reached across Chris to tug at his hand and coax him into facing him. Chris draped an arm behind Zach, leaning in to lay his head on Zach’s shoulder.

“I hate Christmas.”

“You’re a bad liar,” Zach chuckled quietly. “You love it. You just stress out too much.”

Chris nuzzled against Zach’s neck a bit, shifting closer and using every bit of body language he had to beg for snuggles. For his part, Zach was still barely holding his eyes open and couldn’t find it in him to shift away at all, even to talk more clearly. His eyes were just starting to droop again when Chris’ voice hit him like a ton of bricks.

“You missed Christmas.”

Startling, Zach pulled back a bit to look at Chris’ face. “We have tomorrow.”

“We have Katie’s with my family then dinner with Joe and half our friends. We’ll get back late. And I’m staying up all night so I’ll make us late tomorrow anyway….”

“Hey, hey,” Zach started, running his fingers over Chris’ jaw, tracing the stubble. “I’m sorry. If I could have made it out earlier – “

Chris tilted closer, just enough to press their lips together and shut Zach up. “Don’t apologize. Not your fault. It’s stupid, I know that. Just…this is the first _real_ Christmas we’ve had and…” He trailed off, shifting around while Zach tried to think up something comforting to say. Paper rustling broke through Zach’s thought.

“Hey, what’s the box you were holding.”

If they hadn’t been so close together, Zach wouldn’t have known Chris blushed. As it were, the only reason he knew was because he felt the heat. When there didn’t seem to be a response coming other than a shrug, Zach sighed and tugged on Chris’ shirt under the blanket. “Babe?”

“Your present,” Chris shrugged. “It can wait.” But he fidgeted, leaning closer to Zach before pulling away. “It’s really good this time around. Better than your birthday.”

Something strange must have possessed Chris because Zach had loved his birthday present, but he wasn’t going to bring that up. Everything was making sense all of a sudden. They’d been supposed to do presents and such that night, some type of tradition Chris liked, which Zach was convinced was actually because it would fit into their schedules so long as they didn’t actually stay at any Christmas parties too late.

“Can I have it now?” Zach prodded, partially from curiosity and excitement, but mostly because he knew what would happen to Chris’ expression.

“Yeah, sure, of course,” Chris sat up a bit, letting the blanket fall and pulling the box from the corner he’d hidden it in. Just as Zach suspected, Chris’ eyes were bright and he was practically vibrating with excitement. Everyone who was anyone sort of knew how much Chris liked giving people things, especially when he’d worked out the _perfect_ gift. That was partially why it always took him until the last minute to buy things.

Zach took the small package in his hands, tugging at the edges of the silver and blue paper, pulling the bow off and pressing it to Chris’ forehead. Chris laughed and knocked it off before staring intently again. The paper came away easily, largely intact still, and he pulled the top off the box.

In the dim light, it was difficult to tell exactly what was in it. Lifting the papers up, he saw a colorful brochure for an apparently breathtaking resort. When he opened it, a few slips fell out and into his lap. Zach snatched them up, realization dawning and excitement building.

“We’re going to Santorini?” Zach breathed it in an incredulous whisper. There were a handful of places Zach always wanted to go. Some of them he’d been but wanted to return to, but Santorini was on the short list of _Places To Go Before I’m Too Old To See Straight and Walk Around in Ridiculous Hats_.

“I checked your schedule. I made mine match where I could,” Chris shrugged like it was nothing, but he was staring too closely for Zach to buy that.

“Greece, Chris!” Leaning away, Zach set the box on the coffee table and turned immediately to practically crawl into Chris’ lap. “You’re pretty amazing,” he whispered against the other man’s lips.

“I try.”

“You do well.” Whatever Zach planned on saying after that got lost as Chris pulled him in to trade light, slow kisses. It took a while before they pulled away, even then it was only to press their foreheads together. Zach knew his gift didn’t even begin to compete. “Want yours?”

Humming, Chris shook his head. “Tomorrow’s fine.” When he shifted, just a bit, Zach slid off him but stayed pressed tightly against Chris’ side. “Can we just…be still for a little while?”

“Of course.” Zach promised, trying to hide the way his eyes were starting to droop again. When Chris hid a yawn against his arm, Zach understood. They were always going, except when they were in bed and this was supposed to be the one time they didn’t have to be anywhere or doing anything. “We’ll be still until New Year’s if you want.”

It wasn’t a promise he could actually keep and they both knew it. Nonetheless, Chris smiled lazily and pulled the blanket up around them again. “Merry Christmas.”

**Author's Note:**

> Original Prompt: It's Christmas Eve. Chris has got a fantastically sweet present for Zach (whatever the author/artist wants). But for some reason that evening, Zach had gotten home fairly late (maybe his directors hate him and made him film on Christmas Eve or something), so the boys didn't get to spend too much time together before hitting the hay. It was mostly a hug and kiss goodnight as they got into bed around midnight. Well, Chris can't sleep. Around 3am, he gets up out of bed and goes to sit in the living room by the tree, turning on its lights and staring at it, picking up the gift he got for Zach and toying with the box in his hands. A sleepy Zach comes in and sits with Chris, they discuss how Chris just can't sleep, is nervous, etc. So basically. FLUFF. A sex scene would be awesome too if it was thrown in there. 


End file.
